West Pasaman, sumbarsatu.com—Four farmers who are still being held at Talu Prison, West Pasaman will be legally released, because the Public Prosecutor has appealed because the high court judge did not detain the defendant. However, until Friday (7/10/2022), Talu Prison still refused to release four farmers who were members of the SPI.
"For us, the detention period has actually exceeded the time limit for the decision of the West Pasaman District Court," said M. Hafiz Saragih, Secretary of the Indonesian Peasants Union (PBHP-SPI) Legal Aid Center, Friday (7/10/2022).
This is also reinforced by the Padang High Court Letter number W3.U/2182/HPDN/X/2022 regarding the explanation of the detention status of the case number 1.03/Pid.B/2022/PN-Psb dated 4 October 2022 which stipulates that the Padang High Court did not commit detention of the five accused farmers who are members of the SPI.
Hafiz Saragih added that the detention of four farmers who are in the custody of Talu Prison is a form of arbitrariness, because it has no legal basis.
"Legal detention is of course carried out on a determination by an authorized institution based on the stages of the case, at the level of appeal the authority to detain or not, is with the High Court as regulated in Article 238 paragraph (2) of the Criminal Procedure Code", said Hafiz.
Hafiz explained that PBHP-SPI will report this arbitrary detention to relevant institutions at the National level, including the Ministry of Law and Human Rights and Komnas HAM, because there are clear violations of Human Rights and Peasants' Rights.
This arbitrary detention has violated justice for the peasants, of course the complaint mechanism is carried out by us to fight for access to justice for farmers, as well as to show the situation of law enforcement outside the procedure (undue process of law) to the superiors of the relevant institutions and the judicial supervisory agency.
This detention is contrary to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which explains “that no one can be arrested and detained arbitrarily.
It is also reinforced by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Farmers and People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP) which stipulates "farmers have the right to access to justice that is effective and non-discriminatory".
"Therefore, we urge the West Pasaman Talu Prison to immediately release the four farmers who are still in detention because they no longer have a legal basis to continue their detention because there was no arrest order from the Padang High Court," he said.
Meanwhile, last Monday, 19 September 2022, the Panel of Judges of the West Pasaman District Court read out the verdict on the criminalization of five farmers who are members of the Indonesian Peasants Union (SPI) Basis Aia Gadang, Pasaman District, West Pasaman Regency, West Sumatra Province on behalf of Idamri, Paridin, Jasman , Rudi, and Vishnawati.
The panel of judges sentenced four male farmers to prison for two months and 15 days and one month and 15 days to one female farmer. Previously, the Public Prosecutor's Office had demanded that 5 farmers be sentenced to five months in prison.
Dechtree Ranti Putri from the Padang Legal Aid Institute (LBH), who is the attorney for five farmers, said that her client accepted the decision and would not make an appeal. However, at this time, the Public Prosecutor filed an appeal to the Padang High Court. We quite appreciate the judge's decision on this case because farmers are victims of human rights violations in conflict with PT. Anam Koto related to land conflicts since decades ago. SSC/MN
